Apple has changed the way calendars sync in Mavericks. Here’s how to sync your Apple Calendar App with an existing Google calendar.
You can’t use an iCloud based calendar to sync with Google. You need to start from Google and go the other way. Apple can see the gmail calendar but not the other way round.
Step 2: Adding your Apple Calendar to Google Calendar; Step 3: Syncing Google Calendar (Practice Better sessions) back to your Apple Calendar; Step 1: Getting a link to my Apple Calendar. To get your events into Google Calendar you'll first need to get a link (URL) of your Apple Calendar. You can do this either on your iPhone/iPad or via icloud.com. Updated: July 2018. In order to enhance your Gmail experience in Mail and Calendar for Windows 10 and Outlook 2016 for Mac, you can now sync your Google account to the Microsoft Cloud.
Introduction
You might be wondering why someone would want to even use a Google calendar now that Apple Calendar does everything… You can share your Apple Calendar with other people. You can subscribe to other people’s Apple Calendars. You can even allow other people to edit your calendars. So why would you even bother with a Google calendar any more?
Download Google Calendar: Time Planner and enjoy it on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Get organized on the go with the Google Calendar app. View and edit, even on the go Sync your schedule across platforms and devices, so you’re never without it Toggle from day, week, and month view so you always know what’s next Update events in. The days of keeping a manual log of your calendar events is largely over. With smartphones, tablets, and the internet, your life can be digitally organized with ease and there are plenty of options. Two of the most popular options are via Google and Apple’s Calendar services. Obviously, the. BusyCal, Calendar, and Fantastical 2 are probably your best bets out of the 15 options considered. 'Integrated To Dos' is the primary reason people pick BusyCal over the competition. This page is powered by a knowledgeable community that helps you make an informed decision.
Well… The Apple calendar does not allow you to embed a calendar in a website. (Like I have done for our church calendar here.) So if you ‘publish’ your calendar, the other person has to view your calendar from within their Apple calendar app. They cannot look at it in a web browser.
The simplest way to have a calendar published on a website but editable in Apple Calendar is to use a Google calendar. Using this method the calendar info is hosted by Google, not Apple, but the calendar is viewable and editable in Apple Calendar.
Adding a google calendar to Apple calendar is the easy in OS X Mavericks. There are no .ics files or messy webcal:// addresses needed. All you need is your google email address and password.
1. CREATE YOUR GOOGLE CALENDAR
1. If you don’t already have a Google calendar, this previous article of mine describes how to set up a Google calendar. You can then embed that Google Calendar in any website according to Google’s instructions here.
2. ADD YOUR GOOGLE CALENDAR TO APPLE CALENDAR
Here’s how to add the Google calendar to Apple calendar app. A number of people can do this so that they can all edit the same calendar if you want.
1. On your Macintosh go to ‘System Preferences’ and Click on ‘Internet Accounts’.
(This is different to previous versions of OSX where you did it from within Calendar settings. )
2. In System Preferences find ‘Internet Accounts’
2. Click on ‘Google’ to add your Google account.
3. Enter your Gmail settings for the account that has the Google calendar. You will need your Google email address and password. (The ‘Name:’ can be anything.)
4. Click ‘Set Up’ and then make sure ‘calendars’ is selected.
All the calendars from that Gmail account will now appear in your Apple Calendar. You can ‘connect’ to multiple Gmail accounts and multiple calendars. You can turn them on and off by checking or un-checking the checkbox next to the calendar.
The Gmail calendars will now appear alongside your iCloud calendars – toggle their visibility with the checkbox.
If you do not see this window, click on the ‘Calendars’ button on the top left of your Calendar app window.
When you edit your Gmail calendar in the Apple calendar app the changes will automatically be uploaded to the Google account calendar. If the Google calendar is published on a website, the changes will automatically go from the Apple Calendar to the Google calendar and then to the website.
Related posts:
ical, google cal, iphone, what a mess…How to sync your Google calendar with OS X and iPhoneHow to access your gmail contacts from Apple Contacts app.Google Calendar iOS appHow to install Google File Stream and Google Teamsjean christophesays:March 14, 2014 at 12:11 pm
Hello, Yes, very née, but the account in pref keeps saying “a secure connection hash”t been able to be established”… And nothing happened !
Thanks to help !
ReplyAnnoyedsays:April 4, 2014 at 1:16 pm
Same thing, on 10.9.2
ReplyDsays:July 14, 2014 at 10:50 am
Did you ever figure out how to setup your google calendar on your mac? Mine also kept saying “a secure connection hasn’t been able to be established” :-/
ReplySarahsays:October 2, 2014 at 2:21 pm
I had this problem. I fixed it by going to my Gmail account, Security settings and changing Account permissions: Access for less secure apps to “Enabled” – hope that helps!
saharsays:August 6, 2015 at 7:47 am
hi I have forgotten my google password where do I go to reset
Waynesays:August 6, 2015 at 2:08 pm
gmail.com
Thomas Slomkasays:May 8, 2014 at 10:02 am
Nice article. Your method works well. Have you been able to get your iCloud calendars to sync up to a Google calendar?
Imagine you have two iCloud Calendars, Two Exchange Calendars and you manage all of them using the desktop app Apple Calendar. You also have all of them synced up to your iPhone and iPad. Now all you want is to display all of them on a web page so folks can see your availability…. This use to be possible pre-Mavericks by publishing each of the calendars to Google and then publishing the Google calendar to the web.
If you can solve that you’ll make a lot of folks happy.
ReplyWaynesays:May 9, 2014 at 3:49 am
No I haven’t found a way to do this. I did look long and hard. Hence this solution I described where you have the master calendar in Google, and you can share this to the web and to iCloud. But iCloud won’t share to Google. Apple doesn’t have much love for Google.
Wayne – amazing! Who’d of thought I’d find you. Anyway – maybe you can help. I’ve just upgraded to Mavericks, and have lost all my iCal data, now that they have put me on to Calendar. Do you know of any way I can get it back, and then import it into Calendar?
ReplyChawn Crawleysays:June 3, 2014 at 3:16 pm
Wayne,
Great write-up and thanks for getting it out there! I’ve been using Google calendar for quite some time in order to keep track of work and family. Honestly, my usage isn’t terribly elaborate or complex, but I’m still working to simplify things more. Currently, I’m using Fantastical to punch in fast entries from my mobile devices and things are just fine there.
Only trouble I have is figuring out what app I should be running on the OSX side. Fantastical is there but it only works in the menu bar.
Since I’ve no use (that I’m aware of now) for posting my calendar to my website, do you recommend sticking with Google or maybe rolling back to a strait iCal system?
Thanks,
Chawn
ReplyDean Linnellsays:July 9, 2014 at 5:13 pm
Thanks for the article. I’m not sure if I’m understanding this correctly but here’s what I want to do: My wife uses iCal and has our whole family’s schedule in there and it’s synced with my iCal. Works great. However, I’ve just switched to Android and have begun using Google Calendar. I want all our activities to sync from her iCal to my Google Calendar. How do I go about this? If I can’t see my family’s activities in my Google Calendar I’m pretty well screwed. Help!!
ReplyJoanne Scottsays:July 27, 2014 at 4:56 am
I have the exact same issue with my husbands android syncing to our iCal on our Mac at home. Hope someone can help us out with this…
ReplyJoanne Scottsays:July 27, 2014 at 5:10 am
My husband just uploaded an app called “smooth sync” for cloud calendar for $1.99 and he can now view all of our family iCalendars!
ReplyDoro Schmittsays:August 5, 2014 at 4:54 am
As in the other websites, too: THIS IS NOT A SYNC!!!!!!
This is how i can use my google calender in my iphone. A sync would be having the same data in both calendars. I openend 1000 sites now where everybody talks from syncing but it’s all shit https://kikhdz.weebly.com/blog/adobe-acrobat-mac-download.
ReplyTHsays:November 5, 2014 at 6:43 am
Agree,
This is not synching. Updating the calendar on my iPhone and having the update show up on my Google calendar is synching.
ReplyWaynesays:November 6, 2014 at 3:48 am
You can update the calendar on your iPhone and the update shows up on the Google calendar. I’m not sure how that’s not a sync. And if you want more than one calendar, just make another Google calendar. I guess what this post is attempting to describe is a work-around for the fact that Apple prevent you from syncing with Google calendar.
You can’t use an iCloud based calendar to sync because Apple don’t want to play nicely with Google. You need to start from Google and go the other way They are doing to Google what Microsoft did to Apple in the 90’s when Apple could read PC floppy disks but Microsoft wouldn’t read Apple disks. It’s a shame Apple didn’t learn from that experience! Thankfully Google try to play nicely with everyone.
AGsays:November 19, 2014 at 3:59 pm
It isn’t syncing because all you’re doing is updating a Google calendar on an iDevice. Syncing would be updating an iCal and having those changes appear on a Google calendar either on the same device or on another.
My wife uses iCal on her iPhone, while I now use Google calendar on Android. Changes on one do not appear on the other. I wish they did.
ReplyJeromysays:December 26, 2014 at 2:39 pm
I have tired the google calendar settings to allow less secure apps, but still no dice on getting my gmail calendar to work on Ical. anyone have any other ideas?
ReplyH25says:January 8, 2015 at 8:59 pm
I was able to sync the two by adding the account through iCal preferences and syncing my Gmail account as indicated above. My appointments made in Google Calendar showed up, but there were some “triangle + !” error messages that were annoying. I went through google help and followed this link https://www.google.com/calendar/syncselect — my correct info was already selected so I just saved it and the errors went away! My google calendar events all show up in iCal now–but as posters said, not the other way around. It seems like you have to export/import iCal into Google Calendar, but I haven’t fully looked into that.
ReplyLlind asays:January 25, 2015 at 1:22 pm
Google Calendar For Mac Free Download
Nice idea but I do not have an Internet accounts button on my System preferences file or on my IMAC. Now What?
ReplyCarosays:January 29, 2015 at 11:20 am
Thanks a lot for the advice! That is exactly what I need it.
ReplyM³says:February 4, 2015 at 8:17 am
To the author of this article: Are you really that stupid? You’re questioning the use of google calendar. Every argument you use for using Apple calendar is also available in google calendar. The only difference is that with a google calendar you can do all of those things on EVERY device you want. You can share, view, edit ,… with everyone on every device. And now you’re making some workaround because of the incapabilities of the apple calendar… I think it’s time for you to throw away those blinkers…
ReplyWaynesays:February 6, 2015 at 1:07 am
I’m sorry, I think you’ve completely misunderstood the article (or not read it). It’s not questioning the use of Google calendar at all, it is actually telling you how to use google calendar, step by step.
ReplyMohammedsays:February 27, 2015 at 2:33 am
Great help, thanks.Is there an easy way to get my ical events to show up in my google calendar?
ReplyWaynesays:February 27, 2015 at 11:17 am
No way that I know of except to copy them across in Calendar app. Apple can see gmail calendar but not the other way round.
ReplyWernersays:April 13, 2015 at 9:53 pm
Actually, Apple doesn’t have much love for anyone except Apple, and isn’t playing nicely with anyone except Apple. It is not a matter of Apple not learning from that past experience with Microsoft: it is a matter of Apple making every deliberate choice to trap users in an exclusively Apple environnement. The only way to teach them is to go to that conclusion: if you have made a step out of the Apple environnement (to free – as in freemind or freespeach – OS and soft for instance), then do the full walk toward an exclusively not Apple environnement … at least untill they act more friendly to others !!!
Replyjrsays:May 9, 2016 at 9:15 am
And Google isn’t locking everyone into Google apps to make money off the advertising (even the accounts they promised wouldn’t be checked, e.g., schools, paid business accounts)? Once Google claimed to believe in, “[F]irst, do no evil”. Now, not so much. IMHO: They’re both after user’s money, however they can get it. The only reason I use either is to avoid M$.
Traceysays:May 2, 2015 at 10:49 am
I am trying to import to google calendar from iCal, unfortunately when I do this, nothing happens. I get right to import calendar, and up pops a window once this has been done and a small window appears IMPORT CALENDAR. Nothing has been imported.
I have also tried to sync in ical, but I cannot find the URL or server settings that is supposed to show under ICal – Preferences – Account Information.
Does someone have an answer? My Mac computer is a 10. version.
ReplyJodysays:November 18, 2015 at 7:20 am
Great! Quick and to the point and worked immediately. Other articles were confusing and didn’t offer the right solution. From a new Mac user…thanks!!
ReplySarahsays:November 23, 2015 at 12:37 pm
This doesn’t work for me. I can “see” my Google calendar, but I can’t switch to it or see any of the events on it. It is blank, essentially.
ReplyJim Whitstonsays:June 20, 2016 at 5:33 am
The quote from Wayne on 27 Feb “Apple can see gmail calendar but not the other way round.” needs to be in bold somewhere in the main article. I have sweated blood trying to get my ical stuff to show in Android……
ReplyJansays:June 29, 2016 at 9:20 pm
I loathe the Apple calendar!! So hard to add anything, and then it arbitrarily tries to slot what you’ve written into its self-determined time zones.
I love my Google calendar — so user friendly. But the pc it is on is dying so I’ll have to somehow follow these complicated instructions and set it up on my Mac. I’m actually regretting my decision to get a MacBook. Wish I’d stuck with a new pc but too late now….
ReplyKlaus Sauersays:August 22, 2017 at 5:49 am
hi, that works allright if you are working from a mac or ios device, but not if you are accessing your calender through a website. regs Klaus
Replyleasays:January 23, 2019 at 6:03 pm
I tried to do this, I’d edit in ical (under google account) but it wont upload on gmail’s calendar . pls help!
ReplyArnaud Gauthiersays:May 29, 2019 at 10:59 am
Simply use One Calendar on your Android phone… and setup your icloud account in there… works like a charm. I tried all the other methods… but this is the best. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=biz.codespark.xcalendarapp
ReplyMustapha Fawazsays:May 30, 2019 at 4:53 pm
Hi, Thanks for the article. Every even that I create on Google calender appears on my mac. But no event created on my mac appears on google calendar. Do you have any idea why? THanks
ReplyMustapha Fawazsays:May 30, 2019 at 4:59 pm
I finally figured it out. You need to select the calendar from the left side. So, first, click on your gmail (email) account, then any even created will be synched with Google calendar.
ReplyTrevor Plowmansays:August 10, 2019 at 9:13 am
Lync 2013 for mac. Excellent, thanks, stopped working in Safari for some reason, but can now manage all my google calendars from the Mac calendar. Very clear article, thanks.
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Managing your time has long been a part of the knowledge worker’s day, and calendar apps have been around almost as long as email. But while the quantity of available options is high, the number of quality calendar apps is a small handful.
The option that is best suited for you will depend on your needs, but a closer inspection has shown us that, for most people, Fantastical 2 is the best calendar application for macOS users.
What We Looked For When Looking for the Best Calendar App
A calendar app on its own is a simple thing. You put items on it to show where you need to be, how long you’re going to be there, or what you’re going to do. Any calendar app must include those features to be useful in any way.
But a useful and effective calendar app requires those features to be well-designed, as well as include other functionality. Here’s what we looked at to arrive at our decision.
Ease of use: The number one priority of a calendar app must be the UI. How intuitive is the app? How easy is it to add a new event? A task or reminder? To add some notes or details to an event? How hard is it to invite people to an event? These are some of the questions we asked when comparing the options.
Aesthetics: For many people, using a calendar application is a necessary evil. It’s a tool to manage how other people are using up your time. But if you’re going to have to spend time managing this part of your life, an attractive interface can make the chore more enjoyable.
Power: Once you have a smart UI in place, the next thing to consider with a calendar app is the feature set. What can the user do from this application? The best app will need to meet the needs of the novice (your grandma) as well as the power user (your CEO’s assistant). And those features cannot detract from the usability of the app. No small order, there.
Price: With many categories of desktop applications, the price can often be irrelevant as the gap is narrow and most options are similar. However, because of Outlook’s inclusion in our comparison, price factored into our decision.
macOS integration: How well the application fits the environment is always key — especially for cross-platform tools. At the risk of sounding painfully obvious, a calendar app for macOS must work with iCloud. And not just for the calendar functionality: Reminders are a key tool for Apple users and need to be accessible in our selection.
Third-party integrations: Because macOS users do not all use the same calendar service (iCloud, Google Calendar, Exchange, etc.), our desktop app must work with all the available options.
iOS versions: Lastly, because most of us live in a multi-device environment, it is beneficial to have iOS versions of each app.
The Calendar App Contenders
Calendar (Free): Included in macOS, Apple’s option covers all the basics. It sports an attractive interface, but suffers from several usability issues.
BusyCal ($49.99): The BusyMac team has been in the app-making business for some time. And their flagship app, BusyCal, has long offered more features than its macOS counterpart. The focus here is functionality.
Fantastical 2 ($49.99): This option started as a menubar app for macOS, often used in tandem with the other desktop calendar options. It originally launched in May, 2011 and has since made its way to iOS. However, Fantastical 2 for macOS sports a new interface and is now a full-fledged desktop app.
Outlook ($6.99/$9.99 per month, $139.99/$219.99): The old behemoth chugs along. Outlook was a key cog in the Microsoft dominance on the PC, but it’s always felt like an ugly duckling on macOS. We wanted to know if that was still the case.
The Verdict: Fantastical 2 is the best calendar app for Mac
The original Fantastical for macOS was the best option for quickly adding and reviewing calendar entries. Version 2 keeps all its advantages while adding the functionality of more robust calendar applications.
Ease of Use
There is a lot to like about a number of these calendar apps, but what makes Fantastical stand out is the first item on our list of criteria: it’s the easiest to work with. For a calendar app, ease-of-use needs to be considered in a few different ways.
First, how easy is it to glance at your day, week, or month and quickly get a feel for how your time is going to be spent? Second, and perhaps more importantly, how easy is it to get items into your calendar? Because many calendar apps do a decent-to-good job of displaying your events, we could argue that ease-of-entry is the most vital part of a desktop calendar app.
And, in this regard, Fantastical leads the way.
Aside: savvy macOS users could point to the fact that desktop utilities such as Alfred, LaunchBar, and Spotlight make ease-of-entry a non-sequitur. And I agree: I often use LaunchBar to add events to my calendar rather than Fantastical … but this is a review of the full-fledged functionality of the desktop calendar app landscape. If launcher type utilities are your thing, check out our review.
From its inception, the focus with Fantastical was its natural-language parsing, the ability for the user to enter random bits of text into the entry box and the app just figures it out. It’s almost magical and it set the bar for calendar apps on macOS.
That has not changed with Fantastical 2. Although the app is no longer just a menubar utility, the ease of getting items into your calendar is the same. The great part of Fantastical 2 is that for those who loved the simplicity of the first version, you can use it in the exact same fashion. The full fledged app interface never needs to be seen.
Indeed, the menubar functionality is now a must-have for a calendar application. I want to be able to glance at my day without having to open the full application. Fantastical gives me that option and builds on the original experience of the first version to also give the full functionality and bigger long-term views of more traditional calendar apps.
Apple makes every effort to turn the phrase “it-just-works” into reality. Flexibits does the same with its ability to take what you throw at it and turn your words into events that make sense. And, as alluded to earlier, ease of use also includes a few other touches. Viewing a calendar filled with events and tasks is one factor, but we’ll touch more on the UI below.
Another way many calendar apps cause frustration is in editing events already in your calendar. Some of our options add friction to the process of editing existing entries, most often in the form of multiple clicks. Fantastical does no such thing. Simply click on an existing event, and update fields as desired. Other options require you to click a button or double click an entry before field values can be added. Advantage Fantastical!
There are a few other common tasks that are (thankfully) easier than was common several years back. Adding invitees, locations, or notes to a calendar entry is a fairly simple process in Fantastical, BusyCal, and Calendar.app — both in creating a new entry, or with editing an existing one. In this regard, Outlook adds slightly more friction to the process.
Aesthetics
In many interfaces, the “less is more” mantra is an ideal goal. Most clean, well-thought out UI’s make ample use of whitespace and contrast to differentiate between different types of content.
The hard part of designing a calendar application is that the designer has to give the user the ability to view a large amount of information (a month or year view of a busy person’s calendar), yet still maintain clarity. No easy task. In this regard, Flexibits has done a laudable job with Fantastical.
The desktop calendar space for macOS had long been ruled by options putting functionality over aesthetics or options that came close to usable, but slightly missed the mark (Apple’s own Calendar app).
Power Play
The problem with many of the apps that place the highest priority on aesthetics, ease of use, and a clean experience is that power features are often sacrificed. And in most cases, this is a good thing.
But applications that can provide a clean user experience and full functionality will rule the roost. That’s the case with Fantastical. No one could ever accuse BusyCal of not delivering on features, but it, and other options, lack the grace of Fantastical. So, when talking about feature sets, this must always be kept in mind.
How does Fantastical fare with features in mind? Very well, thank you! It integrates with iCloud and Google accounts, the two most used options for macOS users. But it also plays nicely with Exchange (for those poor souls living double lives), Yahoo, and CalDAV accounts. Is your Google account configured to use two-factor authentication? No problem.
In essence, desktop calendar applications can be thought of as wrappers. The full functionality is dependent on the background service (iCloud, Google etc). But each client on macOS integrates with those backend services to differing degrees. Fantastical does a fair job of offering the majority of options that iCloud and Google calendar apps provide.
However, one feature Fantastical does not include is the ability for users to share their calendars. But, neither do any of the other options we considered (apart from Outlook giving you options to share Exchange calendar accounts). Overall, most of the apps considered have parity in this regard. None of the other options add enough functionality to overcome Fantastical’s excellent design.
Price
For many comparisons of desktop applications for macOS, cost is not a determining factor, simply because the range of prices is mostly consistent, but with Calendar apps, price does come into the discussion. This is due to the fact that Apple provides a free option within the desktop OS, but also because Microsoft Outlook is more than 4 times the cost of the other contenders.
https://truckbrown262.weebly.com/nike-running-app-spotify-offline.html. With Fantastical and BusyCal sitting at $49, people have two questions to answer. First, do these third-party applications offer enough advantage over the free app already installed on their computer? If the answer to that question is yes (and for many people, it likely is), the next question to answer is whether or not Outlook offers enough advantages over Fantastical and BusyCal to justify the $219 price tag. Fruity loops for mac trial.
Lastly, one consideration when factoring in price to a decision such as this is support. When a Mac user makes a purchase of this nature, choosing a third-party tool over what Apple already provides, you have to consider what kind of company your purchasing power is supporting. Part of what makes macOS so special is the thriving community of developers. They truly make macOS a better platform (as well as iOS), extending what it can do beyond what Apple envisioned.
It’s just another reason that makes Fantastical our top choice. It feels good to support the Flexibits team. Reciprocal benefit is a beautiful thing!
Fitting In
Another vital aspect of a desktop calendar app for macOS is fitting in and being a good neighbor. With iCloud, an app that makes adding and viewing reminders has a distinct advantage over an app that does not. And again, Fantastical meets the need, and does so better than the other contenders.
This may be one of my favorite touches with Fantastical. To add a reminder to one of your Reminder lists, simply toggle the switch in the new entry window.
The same benefits to adding an event to your calendar apply to your Reminders. Simply start typing in the entry window, then toggle the switch as shown above. Want that reminder to have a due date? Not a problem — just type it in like you would for an event. The natural parsing of Fantastical handles events and reminders with ease.
Displaying your reminders is also done well. In the Mini Window (capitalized for your pleasure), your reminders are placed at the end of your list of events. If one has a due date and time, it shows amidst your events at that time. In the full app window, the reminders show in both the sidebar and the full calendar view.
Apple has made an attempt to have Reminders be the default to-do list of the casual computer user. Unfortunately, they fell short making the experience fluid. However, Fantastical makes up where they lack. With Fantastical 2, the experience of adding, viewing, and interacting with reminders makes it feel as if Reminders is a natural extension of the calendar.
Fantastical has a fantastic (sorry … you knew it was coming!) Today widget. None of the other contenders offer that functionality. If the menubar is not your thing, then a quick three finger swipe can bring up the Today window for a look at what’s coming.
Basically, Fantastical makes working with your calendar and your reminders an experience. It’s the best option for fitting in with macOS. By far!
iOS Counterparts
Although not essential to the experience on macOS, any desktop application that has counterparts on iOS (or Android) extends the overall experience. Outlook is complete in this area, as is Apple’s Calendar app. However, the same smart design touches that make Fantastical the preferred option on macOS also give it the edge with the iOS versions.
We’ve written in detail about the Fantastical iPhone app in a separate review. Read more about that here.
Once again, Fantastical comes out ahead in our comparison.
Free Productivity Guide: Download our simple guide to productivity to help you improve your workflows and be more focused with your time and attention. Get it here.
Other Candidates
BusyCal
Probably the most feature complete option we considered, BusyCal is the best choice for those who value function over form. It certainly gives you all the features you could want. Where it lacks for yours truly is the aesthetics: it looks and feels a little like corporate software.
I used BusyCal several years back when there were less options available to replace Apple’s iCal (you can almost smell the faux leather). Today, BusyCal is greatly improved, even to the point where it competes feature-by-feature with Fantastical.
A good example is the menubar functionality. Although BusyCal started as a full desktop app, in contrast with Fantastical’s progression from menubar utility to full app, it includes a nice menubar option that allows for quick calendar entry. It even uses Fantastical-like language processing.
Where it falls short of our choice is the overall look and feel.
Outlook
One consideration a review of this type requires is how to approach Outlook. Do you compare the calendar function only? Because it’s a full-fledged application that covers multiple categories (email, calendar, contacts, tasks, and notes) with a price tag to match, you have to decide if the additional functionality should factor in to the comparison.
For this review, it did not. If an all-in-one approach is your preference, then Outlook is certainly a potential good fit for you. Show box for mac. But, when considering calendar-specific features on their own, Fantastical is a much better overall experience than what the calendar portion of Outlook has to offer.
Another issue to weigh is the cost. Is Outlook good enough to overcome the larger price tag? Not in this author’s mind. If fitting in with Exchange is a must have or if you already subscribe to Office 365, then Outlook merits serious consideration. For anyone else, the other options are all a better fit.
Calendar
Last, and certainly least, Apple’s own Calendar must be considered. It’s free, it’s installed on every Mac, and it has improved over the years (the Scott Forstall faux leather years, to be specific). For the most casual user, it can certainly fit the bill.
Where does it lack compared to Fantastical? Well, it does not have a menubar option. As mentioned under ease of use, this is a must have for yours truly.
Google Calendar For Macbook Air
The oddest part of Calendar is its lack of integration with other iCloud items. Want to interact with your Reminders in your calendar app? Then Calendar is not for you. Same for the Calendar Today widget. Because Apple separates Reminders into its own app, you cannot see these tasks (even if they are time-based) in the view of your day. You’d have to keep both apps open.
Google Calendar For Mac Download
Once again, the completeness of Fantastical surpasses the contender.
Why this over other options
With our full comparison, while there is feature parity for the most part, none of the options can compete with Fantastical in terms of overall design and ease of use. BusyCal comes close feature-wise, but is lacking the grace of a more well-designed application. Spotify cracked apk apple. And while Apple’s Calendar has the benefit of already being on your machine, it falls short in terms of usability.
Fantastical is the king of the hill. You need look no further!